Thanksgiving Break Recap, Fruit Deliveries, and Winter Running

     I can't believe its almost been a week since I got back to Union College from Thanksgiving Break! Being home with my mom and my brother was something I really needed. We all stayed up late watching movies, slept in late,  I had long in-depth conversations with my mom, I got to see my old friends, go to cycling classes at LA Fitness, and do some fun trail running. I also took advantage of Black Friday by purchasing some new Vibrams online (they were 30% off!) instead of buying them at Abbadabba's in Atlanta (I needed a new pair of Sprints. My old pair I wore a whole through it after wearing it everyday for almost 1.5 yrs.).

    

      I was planning to do the Atlanta Thanksgiving Half Marathon while I was home, but I changed my plans; my mom asked me if it would be alright to skip it this year so that she could have a relaxing and well-slept vacation (I didn't have my car so she would have driven me to the race at 5am on Thanksgiving Day in downtown Atlanta). Everyone just needs a break now and again, and my main priority on this vacation was to spend quality time with my family. They have supported me in my food choices, school choices, and especially in my races, and they are what I am most grateful for.

This is my latest creation, a "Baked" Apple Smoothie.

This smoothie was invented to replace my preplanned 

raw persimmon pie. I had all the ingredients but somehow

ants managed to find their way into the reusable bag, 

paper bag, and plastic bag that I had wrapped 

the Hachiya persimmons in to ripen.

     When I got back from break my good friend, Jamie, and her boyfriend picked me up at the airport in Omaha. Although I had persimmons waiting for me back in my dorm and some clementines I had brought back from the Farmer's Market at home, I was still going to need some more food to last me until my next shipment from Jourdan's Beautiful Foods arrived, so we stopped off at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.

Yum yum, eat em up!

     Yesterday was when my fruit 

packages started to arrive again. More Dragon Fruit!   

And today my package of Pomelos came in!!

I was amazed at the size of these guys. 

Wow! I know what I'm having for breakfast.

     Since getting back I hadn't gone running. I was sick of using the treadmill, but it was cold outside and I didn't have the appropriate outdoor running clothes for midwest temperatures.  So this Tuesday I went over to Scheels (a popular sports store hear in Nebraska) to fork out some money for a good quality winter running outfit: pants, shirt, coat, gloves, and hat (the whole shebang).

     While I was there I also invested in a new pair of running shoes. I haven't run or really even walked in anything but Vibram Five Fingers and thin sandles in well over a year. However, I've found that even with the Bikila's I'm only able to run a max of 14 miles on pavement (trails aren't a problem) before I start experiencing ankle pain. I viewed this reaction as an indication that if I plan on training and running the Lincoln Marathon this May, then I was going to need some shoes with more support; and with some research beforehand and some assistance from one of the staff members from Scheels, I found something that I believe will work for me - the Nike LunarGlide+ 3 Shield running shoe.

I ran in them for the first time today.

It felt a little weird because I'm not accustomed

to running in actual shoes, but I don't think it 

will be to difficult to adjust seeing as they are so light.

And even though they provide more support than 

Vibrams, they aren't really all that thick.

Bring on the cold, I'm ready!

     I only have one more week after this week before finals; then I can enjoy myself over Christmas Break - 3 whole weeks of fun, rest, and relaxation before Spring Semester starts. The first two weeks I'll be in California with Jamie (road trip!) and the last week of break I plan on flying back home to visit my family. So my posts might have been rather sparse over the Fall semester, but look out for a lot of activity  anytime after December 18th.

Later!